Linlithgow palace

Linlithgow palace (Lothian). Initially a royal manor house beside the loch, and lodging for Edward I who strengthened it (1301–3), it was rebuilt in stone by James I of Scotland after the 1424 fire; the great hall and royal apartments were augmented by his successors to close off the open west side and transform it into a fashionable residence. Birthplace of James V (1512), it remained empty after the death of James IV at Flodden (1513) until the 1530s, when work was resumed reflecting James V's tastes, as at Falkland. Birthplace also of Mary, queen of Scots (1542), and set aside for the queen mother, Mary of Guise, the palace fell into disrepair after the accession of the infant James VI (1567). The ruinous north range was rebuilt 1618–24 with one of the finest Renaissance façades in Scotland, but was never used by James after his accession to the English throne. Charles I was the last monarch to sleep there (1633), Cromwell wintered there (1650), while the earl of Linlithgow forfeited his titles and hereditary keepership by supporting the ‘Old Pretender’. Roofless since a bad fire in 1746, it is currently cared for by the Scottish Development Department.

A. S. Hargreaves

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Linlithgow

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

Linlithgow, town (1991 pop. 9,524), West Lothian, central Scotland. Manufactures include paper, whiskey, and computers. Linlithgow Palace, now a ruin, was a seat of Stuart kings and the birthplace of James V and Mary Queen of Scots. Begun in the 15th cent. by James I, it was occupied (1651–59) by Oliver Cromwell and his forces, and burned in 1746. The 1st earl of Murray, regent of Scotland, was murdered there in 1570.

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